According to the International Labour Organization, there are over 600 million people with disability in the world. About 100 to 140 million suffer from physical disabilities and forecasts point to an increase of almost 29,000 people per year. Considering only the EU countries, the numbers of elderly and/or disabled people are between 60 and 80 million. These numbers are growing and it is estimated that by the year 2020, 25% of the population will have some type of disability. In the U.S., approximately 54 million people have a disability, 61% of those are still in working age, it is estimated that this number will double in just 15 years.
Physical disability and specifically the problem of mobility are prevalent in about 40% of the population with disabilities in the European Union and 7% of the American population. Recent data showed an increase of 22% (2.7 M to 3.3 M) from 2008 to 2009, regarding people in wheelchair.
The circumstances that cause this condition are not always result from aging. Although a large part is due to cerebrovascular accidents (CVA—stroke) and arthritis, typically associated with aging, other situations such as multiple sclerosis, lack or loss of lower limbs, paraplegia and orthopedic problems, not correlated with age, also have significant expression in these numbers.
Regarding the elderly, it is expected that in 2050 the number of seniors will exceed the number of young people for the first time in history. Currently, there are about 800 million elderly. In 2050 this number will exceed 20 billion people.
By analyzing the market and our national customers, considering only the two largest commercial groups, it can be seen that Sonae group has about 1,000 stores, while Jerónimo Martins' group has about 350 stores. These numbers show our market's potential in terms of shopping, considering only two trade groups. We must not forget that the solution can also be adopted by the industry and other commercial groups.
Analyzing the international market, in the USA there are approximately 105,000 shopping centers. In Europe, in 2007, data points to the existence of nearly 5,700 shopping centers of “traditional format”. Airports are another scenario where the present device, herewith described as wi-go, can be applied. According to data, there are about 15,000 airports, only in the United States. In the European Union 800 million passengers were registered only in 2010.
These are just a few numbers that help us realize the importance of developing solutions that can take into account what will be the future of societies. Many of the difficulties these people face also have to do with mobility problems. In this sense, we believe we can pay our contribution in order to improve the quality of life, since the solutions and the developed products put technology at the service of social integration, cohesion and responsibility.
The document WO2007034434A2 describes a device and a computer program to recognize the movement of an object or a person by capturing conventional video frames (eg RGB). The video frames are processed by means of logic processing, using corresponding block codes. The correspondence block defines a pixels block in a frame search block and pixels in an area of the next frame, and by the location of the search area in the next frame, the correspondence is automatically adjusted based on the measured values.
The document US2007045014A1 describes a conventional scooter controlled by a joystick, which is used to transport people and to circulate in the street. It has no basket for shopping, it does not follow people, it has no cameras and the system of motors and steering has axis which link the wheels and serve to give direction.
The document WO2004039612A2 describes a system/platform similar to the base of a caterpillar which enables the coupling of wheelchairs, for example, so that they are able to cross difficult terrain, which they wouldn't be able to on their own (such as the stairs). It does not use cameras, nor follows people.